


all too well

by roseweasley394



Series: Moments Like These [19]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Break Up, Established Relationship, F/M, Healer Scorpius Malfoy, Heartbreak, Journalist Rose Weasley, Post-Hogwarts, Regret, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:54:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25114246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseweasley394/pseuds/roseweasley394
Summary: She took a deep breath, bracing herself for what she was about to do, praying that he could find it in himself to one day forgive her.“I think that we need a break,” she managed to choke out.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley
Series: Moments Like These [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1780003
Kudos: 38





	1. Lost in Translation

* * *

Rose looked up at Scorpius and took him in slowly. He was her best friend, the love of her life. She would never tire of seeing his easy smile and bright eyes, the sharp slope of his jaw, and the way he could simply walk into a room, and her stress would evaporate. But looking at him, knowing all that she did, she knew she was making the right decision. She could practically feel her heart breaking in her chest, but she needed to do it.

Tears had long ago begun their messy descent down her freckled cheeks. Her vision was blurry, her chest felt tight, and the silence that had fallen upon them was relentless, just another twist of the knife in her side. It meant that even Scorpius was at a loss, and he always knew what to do. She took a deep breath, bracing herself for what she was about to do, praying that he could find it in himself to one day forgive her.

“I think that we need a break,” she managed to choke out.

Things had started off perfectly. They’d graduated, gotten a flat together, and begun their lives; him as an intern at Mungos, her as an intern at the Prophet. The hours were long and the work wasn’t always fun, but they were fulfilling their dreams and they were doing it together.

If she had to take a guess, Rose would say that things had started to fall apart around October. He was newly 20 and she wasn’t far behind. It had been three years since they’d left the comforting walls of Hogwarts, four since they’d admitted their love for each other, and they were starting to learn that navigating a serious relationship alongside an embarking upon an ambitious career path wasn’t as easy as their parents had made it seem.

Their careers were both starting to really take off. He wanted to change the wizarding medical field: travel alongside the aurors as the resident healer and fight against medical injustices for wizards everywhere. Rose wanted to restructure wizarding news by focusing her writings on what was really important, not whatever gossip Rita Skeeter had ingrained as a staple in the Daily Prophet. She wanted to climb the social ladder and ascend to writing at the ministry level, eventually working up to publish her own material. They were both ambitious beyond belief, the downside of that being that they both spent more hours working than they did with each other.

Scorpius pulled several 24-hour shifts a month meaning that when he was home, he slept as much as possible. Rose worked fairly normal hours and did her best to fill her empty time by going the extra mile and writing more than was assigned to her, which in the long run only elevated her status in the writing field.

They both savored each of the moments that they spent together, but they were quickly becoming far and few between. In Hogwarts, they’d shared every minute detail of their lives together. They lived in the same house, had the same classes, studied together, and were together practically every holiday. Neither of them was used to not sharing every aspect of their lives with one another and the more time they spent apart, the more Rose started to feel the gaping distance between them.

She tried to ignore it at first. They still had fun. Neither of them cared if they were at some fancy restaurant or curled up on the couch, just as long as they were together. She wished she had realized sooner that at some point, that wasn’t enough anymore.

His shifts became even longer and she began to be called away to write articles all over the country. The distance between them grew even more until every moment they spent together became awkward and tension-filled. They were virtually strangers. When they’d gotten together they hadn’t thought about the hardships of a relationship. They were both barely 17, so filled with hope and desire. Rose tried to pinpoint when that had gone away.

Their conversations became less and less enthusiastic. She ached to talk to him constantly but the time just didn’t seem to exist. She was miserable and he hardly seemed to notice. That being said, she never once doubted that he loved her. He showed her constantly that he did by leaving notes around their flat, surprising her sporadically with her favorite take out, and by sitting in the bath with her after a seemingly endless day, washing her hair and rubbing her feet. But those occasions had become so far apart that she often forgot that they ever even occurred.

It wasn’t to say that she wasn’t at fault either. When he was home, she tended to pull longer shifts just to spite him. She wanted to be with him desperately, but the nasty, twisted part of her wanted him to feel the emptiness that lived in her constantly.

And that’s when the arguing began.

It had started with silly things.

_Who had left the towel on the floor?_

_Why were the dishes still in the sink?_

But then it became personal.

_Why were his shifts becoming increasingly longer?_

_Why did she not support him the way that she used to?_

_Why was it that every time he had off, she just happened to get called away?_

Each fight ended the same way: angry, messy kisses, and rough, meaningless sex. They never talked about it after because that would mean admitting that they had a problem.

Things hit their peak late one night when he returned much later than he’d promised. She couldn’t sleep without his being there and so as usual, she had stayed up reading. But it was fine, or so she told herself. He’d come home, they’d go to sleep and then they’d have the entire weekend to talk or fight or whatever else their lives now consisted of.

He didn’t get home until almost 3:00 in the morning. She plastered on a smile as he put down his things and climbed into bed without changing out of his bright green robes. He leaned over to press his lips to her forehead and she unconsciously tensed beneath him, leading him to pull away looking hesitant.

“Is everything alright?” He asked confusion etched upon his sharp features.

She nodded fervently, not having it in her to fight with him so late at night. “Yes, I’m just tired.”

He smiled knowingly and leaned in to kiss her once more until it happened again. She hadn’t even thought about it. His proximity just was something she wasn’t used to anymore and she couldn’t help it. This time when he pulled away, he looked more hurt than confused.

“Rose, what’s going on?” he asked quietly.

She put her head in her hands and before she knew it, she was crying, sobbing more like, and she felt like an idiot. She didn’t know what had come over her but it was as if the last few months had settled atop her chest in an attempt to crush her.

She could hear his sharp intake of breath as he moved to wrap her in his arms. But then, as if he thought better of it, he moved away to his side of the bed where he leaned against their headboard, eyes closed as if he were in pain.

“How did this happen to us?” She asked, looking up at him through watery eyes.

She didn’t need to elaborate; he knew exactly what she was talking about.

“I don’t know,” he whispered, so quiet that she almost missed it.

“You’re just never here anymore and I don’t know what I’ve done to make you want to stay away or how I can fix it or even who-”

She was cut off by his sudden movement across the bed where he finally moved to take her in his arms. She relented, allowing herself to nestle in his arms, unable to ignore the sound of his heart beating rapidly against his chest.

“It’s my fault. You haven’t done anything wrong, Rosie. You’re perfect,” he muttered into her hair.

It was the first time they’d ever spoken about their issues. They’d danced around them of course, but neither of them had ever had the guts to face the truth. Their relationship was shattered.

Gently, she pulled away from his embrace and to her consternation, tears had begun flowing down his cheeks as well. She hated to see him cry. It made what she was about to do even harder.

“How did I let this happen?” He asked with a look of anguish.

She shook her head furiously. “You can’t just pin this on yourself, Scorpius. We’ve both made mistakes.”

“No,” he insisted. “It started with me. I put my job first and that’s my fault.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been _horrible_ to you,” she cried, voice catching as another sob rose in her throat.

“I’ve deserved anything you’ve said,” he replied, and now it was his turn for his voice to break.

“No,” she said, shaking her head firmly. “That’s not true.”

“But it is,” he persisted.

“It’s not.”

“It is!”

They sat in silence again, his voice reverberating in the very depths of her soul. She looked to him only to find that much to her horror, his head was in his hands and his shoulders had begun to shake. He seemed utterly wrecked as she took a large shaky breath and prepared herself for what she was about to do. Her heart broke in two just thinking about it.

“I think that we need a break.”

His head shot up instantly and his eyes, the very eyes she’d fallen in love with, were frozen wide in shock.

“I can go stay with my parents,” she continued, voice breaking raggedly. “It shouldn’t take me too long to gather my things.”

She went to climb out of bed to start packing but stopped as Scorpius had taken her face in his hands with a look of alarm, and much to her dismay, fear.

“Rose,” he pleaded desperately, sounding more like a little boy than a man. “This is all my fault and I know that, Rosie. I know. But you have to realize how much I lov-

“Stop,” she whispered, cutting him off.

“No,” he protested. He noticed her wince and let go of her completely, practically sinking into himself.

“Scorpius,” she tried shakily. “This doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”

“I love you so much,” he whispered weakly. “I need you to know that.”

And there they were. The magic words. She couldn’t help herself as a whole new wave of hysteria washed over her.

“I do,” she managed to choke out.

“What?” he asked, hiccuping slightly.

“I do know that you love me,’’ she said, trying desperately to get ahold of herself.

He said the next bit with more clarity than either of them had been able to muster up all evening. “Then you have to know how sorry I am too. I would never try and hurt you, Rose. You’re _everything_ to me.”

She nodded again, trying hastily to wipe away her tears. “I know that too.”

He tugged her hand lightly, bringing it up to his lips. “You have to let me try and fix this, Rose. I don’t know how to be without you.”

“Scorpius,” she said bracingly, flinching at the pain coursing through her. She didn’t know how to be without him either. But maybe that was the problem.

“I’ll quit my job. We can go anywhere you want. I’ll do anything, Rose. Just please stay with me,” he begged.

She could hardly see straight. The tears pouring down her cheeks were hot and heavy and her head hurt and she was just so tired. But through it all, she knew what needed to be done.

“Scorpius, we can’t keep doing this. We both need time to work on ourselves before we can try again and I know that you know that,” she sobbed weakly.

She had no idea how he’d understand a word she was saying because she was crying so hard.

“I love you so much, Rose. _So much_. I’m so sorry that I ever made you doubt that,” he said, now crying even harder than she was.

She felt as if she was going to tear in half. It took everything in her not to kiss him and tell him that they were fine, that this had all been a joke or something silly like that. But she stayed silent. The only sounds that filled the room where those of their respective sniffles and occasional deep breaths.

Suddenly, it was if a switch had been flipped. He let go of her, wiped his face roughly, and shakily slid himself off of their bed.

“This is my fault. It’s not fair for you to have to leave,” he said quietly, summoning a duffel bag.

She watched wordlessly for what could have been hours. After he’d taken what was his, he stood in front of her. She longed for him to touch her but he didn’t.

“I’m going to stay at Albus’s. I’ll be there when you want to talk. _If_ you want to talk,” he said hoarsely.

“I love you,” she whispered the second he popped away.

It took a moment for his absence to sink in, but when it did a guttural sob ripped through her and she collapsed against the pillows haphazardly.

She didn’t know how long she laid there crying. She stopped momentarily when someone apparated outside of her door. A flicker of hope spread through her and she sat upright, wiping roughly at her face. She could tell him that she hadn’t meant a word of it, that she wanted him to come back to her.

But the door opened and it was just Lily. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that Albus had sent her, but she didn’t have the emotional capacity to be embarrassed.

Her cousin wordlessly climbed into her bed and held her for the rest of the night as she cried herself to sleep. She felt hollow and regretted everything.

But somewhere deep within her knew that she had done the right thing. And if she and Scorpius really loved each other as much as they said that they did, maybe, just maybe, things would be alright. She highly doubted it, but she could hope.


	2. I Loved You So

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She knew that she had made the right decision. They had both prioritized less important things than their relationship and had hurt each other in the process meaning that an extensive healing period was required. She needed to work through her anger at him, at herself, for allowing such a thing to happen to the thing she treasured the most. She knew that. But that didn’t mean that she liked it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it took me a bit to get this posted!! As you all know, the world is a bit of a mess right now and I've been extremely busy. I hope that you are all safe, well, and happy! XOXO

* * *

Rose Weasley was not an unintelligent woman. Over the expanse of her 20 years, she’d gracefully dealt with anything life had thrown at her. She’d been tested mentally many times and was proud of the fact that in hard situations, she most always held her head on straight and came out on top. That was until now.

_“I think that we need a break.”_

In the week that followed Rose’s utterance of those words, she found herself an absolute wreck. She couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t work, couldn’t do much of anything really. It was like a piece of her had been taken away.

For the first few days, Lily stayed with Rose while she pieced herself back together. She slept beside her in bed, made sure that she ate, showered, and generally took care of herself. Lily also took it upon herself to remind her distraught cousin that she had made the right call. If she and Scorpius were to ever really work, they needed to take time to reflect on their own personal faults in order to forgive themselves and each other. Of course, Lily was right. It was just hard to be without the one person you’d shared everything with for the past decade.

After using her last remaining sick days before the new year rolled around, Rose finally worked up the gall to try and work. On her first day back, she only left her cubicle to cry in the bathroom twice and made it home with little to no error. The same thing continued to happen, and she slowly began to return to a shell of her former self. She allowed her work to swallow her whole finding that the more she worked, the less time she would spend missing Scorpius.

All of her weekends practiced similarly. She worked into the early hours of the morning on Fridays, coming home so exhausted that she practically collapsed in bed, desperate for another night of dreamless, fitful sleep. She spent her Saturdays working through all the extra work she’d managed to pick up throughout the week, and used Sunday as her resident day to not leave bed at all.

Besides Lily and the occasional visit from Albus, she avoided her family like the plague. She ignored her mother’s letters, skipped out on Sunday lunches at the Burrow, and went as far as closing her floo at risk of getting unsolicited visitors. She ached to see her loved ones, her parents especially, but needed to figure herself out without outside influence.

It wasn’t until the middle of the third week that Rose decided to start taking better care of herself; goal number one being that she needed to eat something other than takeout. Scorpius was a great cook, he’d made sure of it, refusing to rely on house-elves the way his father still did. In his absence, Rose had resolved to exclusively eating shitty take out night after night, and it wasn’t doing her figure any favors. Deciding that enough was enough, she left work early and set out to buy herself groceries like an actual adult.

She chose to go in the middle of the day because she knew that there would be no chance of running into Scorpius. As much as she missed him, she wasn’t ready to see him. She didn’t know what she’d even say.

She walked down Diagon Alley with her head down, her unruly hair tucked beneath her winter hat in hopes of disguising herself. The last thing she wanted was to see a member of her family.

“Rose!”

She stopped in her tracks and audibly groaned. Processing her options, she signed deeply. She could do it. She could run. But she knew the owner of that voice, and she knew that there was no escaping this. Hesitantly, she turned around and plastered on a fake smile that she knew looked more like a grimace.

“Astoria,” she said weakly.

Before she knew it, the older woman had whisked Rose into her arms and pulled her into the closest shop for a quick chat.

Head reeling with the recent turn of events, Rose realized that she was staring at Scorpius's mother rather vacantly. She coughed awkwardly and winced as her voice cracked when she spoke. “I could have sworn that you and Mr. Malfoy were vacationing in Italy for the rest of the month.”

Astoria looked at her strangely. “Italy was lovely, dear, but we got back Sunday evening, seeing as it’s February and all.”

“Oh,” Rose gulped, cheeks flaming. How had she managed to miss all of January? “I must have gotten my dates mixed up.”

“Don’t worry, dear. It happens to us all, doesn’t it?”

Rose hummed in agreement, awkwardly shifting her weight. She needed to get out of this conversation. Fast. But before she could make an excuse to leave, Astoria had grabbed onto her arm and Rose couldn’t help but notice that she looked rather sad.

“Is there something wrong with Scorpius? He hasn’t been returning my owls, and the two of you have hardly visited in months! I do hope that his father hasn’t said something that’s made him stay away,” she worried, her usually warm features looking too distraught for Rose’s taste.

Rose’s cheeks flushed as she realized that Scorpius must have not informed his parents of their separation either.

“It’s nothing like that,” Rose insisted quickly. “He’s been so busy with work. You know how it gets this time of year.”

Astoria sniffed and discreetly wiped underneath her eyes. “Yes, yes, I figured it was something like that. We just miss seeing you both, that’s all.”

Rose’s heart felt like it was going to burst. She loved Scorpius’s mother. She was soft-spoken and so caring and treated Rose like the daughter she’d never had. It made her want to confess everything: her and Scorpius’s arguing, their break up, how lonely she felt all the time. But she couldn’t, she _wouldn’t_ do that to Scorpius. If he wished to keep his parents in the dark, she would respect that. After all, she was doing the very same thing.

“I wouldn’t take too much offense. He’s quite swamped. I’ll mention it tonight over dinner, but if you’ll excuse me, I was actually off to the store to get groceries,” she lied shakily

Astoria straightened, looking hurt. “Of course, dear, don’t let me hold you. It was lovely to see you.”

Rose felt her eyes burn as Astoria leaned in to hug her quickly before bustling off to continue shopping. Scorpius had inherited his mother’s compassion, her warmth, and she missed him terribly.

It took everything in her not to collapse in the middle of the store, but she didn’t. She walked out, ducked her head, and hurried to the market nearest her flat. She was going to cook herself dinner. She was going to go to work the next day. She was going to keep fucking going.

Ironically enough, she managed to bury herself in work enough that the only time left for thinking of Scorpius was at night. It was then that she would allow herself to cry, wrapping herself in his jumpers where she would inhale the lingering scent of him.

She used her evenings to process through the difficult things, like how dependent she was on him for her own personal happiness. She vowed to love Scorpius with everything she had, but he couldn’t be her lifeline. He was allowed to have an ambitious career, other interests besides her, other friends, and she needed to learn to be okay with that.

She knew that she had made the right decision. They had both prioritized less important things than their relationship and had hurt each other in the process meaning that an extensive healing period was required. She needed to work through her anger at him, at herself, for allowing such a thing to happen to the thing she treasured the most. She knew that. But that didn’t mean that she liked it.

That being said, Scorpius wasn’t simply her boyfriend, he was her best friend, and she felt like she was living without a part of herself. There wasn’t a person on earth who knew her as he did. Lily tried to fill the void, but they both knew she couldn’t.

Lily didn’t know how much Rose enjoyed waking up next to the love of her life every morning.

She didn’t know that after a grueling day, all Rose needed was a foot massage and enough takeout to feed a small army.

She didn’t know how much Rose hated the man in the cubicle next to hers because of how he smacked fish and chips _every single day_ , leaving his documents to be covered in greasy fingerprints.

Lily didn’t know Rose as Scorpius did.

And to top it all off, he had told her to visit him when she was ready. But what would she say? How would she know when she was ready? Would he be ready?

She didn’t know what to do for the first time in her life and it was enough to do her in.

Before she knew it, the days and weeks had begun fading into one another. Every moment dragged by. She constantly missed his presence, but slowly things began to fade back to normal if you could even call it that. She made it through her work weeks, learned to wake herself up in the mornings, fed herself more than just fast food, and learned how to live life on her own.

It was Wednesday of the fifth week Rose didn’t arrive home until early in the morning. She had taken on four more assignments than she usually did in a week and it was killing her. But, she figured the more she worked, the less time she would have to spend thinking of Scorpius. The rain around her came down in heavy sheets as she unlocked her front door and hurried inside, water dripping all over her carpet.

The carpet. It was quite ugly, having been practically chewed to bits by moths in her Nana’s attic for who knows how many years. But when she and Scorpius had begun living in their flat, they hadn’t the time to purchase proper furniture and had slept on the thing for a week. The dull ache in her chest intensified and the all too familiar feeling of needing a good cry washed over her heavily.

Shaking her head to rid herself of the memory, she turned sharply, making a beeline for her tiny kitchen. She fixed herself dinner and changed into one of Scorpius’s old jumpers, only pausing to cry for a record-breaking two minutes as she inhaled the barley lingering scent of him.

Right as she settled on her lumpy maroon couch with a pile of chocolate frogs, ready to switch on the muggle TV her parents had given her for her twentieth birthday, something banged against her front door. Her breath caught in her throat and she fumbled for her wand, startled at why anyone or thing would be at her door past 2:00 in the morning.

Thunder clapped loudly and she sighed in relief, brushing the noise off as the torrential downpour taking place across London. She settled back into the couch cushions and had just decided on one of her cousin Lily’s favorite reality shows when something banged against the door again. There was no denying it this time, someone was definitely there.

She grabbed her wand from the couch and slowly made her way to the door. Taking a deep breath, she twisted the handle and flung the door open, gasping once she saw who’s throat her wand was pressed against.

Standing in front of her was a completely drenched, undeniably tired, and incredibly anxious-looking Scorpius Malfoy. Her first instinct was to wrap her arms around his neck and never let go, but she stopped herself, reminding herself that first and foremost, they needed to talk.

She stared at him for a moment longer before she wordlessly ushered him inside, led him to the couch, and summoned a blanket to wrap around his shaking shoulders. It took him a moment to stop shivering but when he did the only sound in the room was that of their collective breathing.

After quite some time, he cleared his throat weakly, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen over their tiny flat.

“I’m sorry,” he started, melting her resolve instantly.

“Scorpius, you don’t have to-”

“ _Yes_ , I do,” he insisted firmly. He tentatively took her hand in his, watching her with an unwavering gaze. She gave him a gentle squeeze in response and he shook his head in awe.

“I’ve been standing in the pouring rain for an hour trying to decide what I was going to say to you and need to get all of it out now before the shock wears off,” he admitted, voice thick with emotion

She wrinkled her nose in confusion. “Shock?”

“The shock of you being here next to me and not yelling at me to leave,” he admitted quietly.

“Why would I ask you to leave?” she asked incredulously. “If anyone should be angry it should be you. You told me to come to see you when I was ready and I didn’t,” she replied, hot tears beginning to well up in her wide blue eyes.

“Rose,” he said softly, all the while wrapping his arm around her and pulling her to his chest. This only made her cry harder but she didn't know why. The reason that she’d been such a wreck for weeks was the absence of his presence and now that he was finally here, she was still crying.

“I’ve missed you. I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered into her hair.

When she finally stopped crying, she gently pulled away from him so that she could really look him over. He looked a little thinner, a little paler, which made sense seeing as he’d been staying with Albus. Like her, dark bags lined his under eyes, only helping to bring out the stunning grey of his irises. His blond hair was unkempt and he was several days passed needing a shave, but he was still so beautiful and she could hardly take her eyes off of him. He must have been having a similar revelation, because he suddenly pulled her against his chest once again, holding her as a dying man might.

They stayed like that, silent, holding one another, for quite some time. She couldn’t help but breathe in the scent of him, linger in his warmth, relish in the feel of his lips pressed softly against the skin of her neck. She had missed him more than she thought possible. And he was here. Finally, he was here.

“I’m not mad at you for not coming to see me,” he said softly, urging her away from him so that he could wipe away her remaining tears with his thumb.

“You’re not?” she asked weakly.

“Of course not,” he said with a wry smile. “I could’ve easily come to see you too, but I didn’t. I didn’t know what to say either.”

She nodded realizing that she hadn’t thought of it that way. “So you know what to say now?”

He laughed and the sound made her stomach flip the way it had when she was 15.

“No, I don’t know what to say. But I do know that these past few weeks have been absolutely awful without you. I’ve been a wreck, Rosie. It’s actually quite pathetic,” he admitted, taking her hand loosely in his.

“I’m not doing too well either, am I?” She replied, giving him a wobbly smile as she gestured to the fact that she was wearing his jumper.

He had begun tracing lacy circles on the inside of her wrist and it was all she could do not to hurdle herself in his arms and let him have his way with her. But he spoke suddenly, reminding her of why they were in this predicament in the first place.

“I don’t regret it.”

“Regret what?” she asked while brushing a lock of hair from his eyes. She couldn’t ignore the way he shivered slightly at her small gesture.

“I don’t regret taking a break. I hated every single moment of it, but I know now that it’s what we needed,” he said, pulling her close to him.

“That’s quite mature of you, Malfoy,” she mused, a true smile lighting up her features for the first time in weeks as she threaded her fingers into the silky blond hairs at the nape of his neck.

“Well, it was a very mature thing for you to suggest. I don’t think that I could’ve and I’m sorry that I made it harder by arguing with you” he said, bringing a palm to cup her cheek.

She blushed slightly and closed her eyes at his touch.

“We can’t go back to the way things were,” she mumbled, giggling as his nose brushed against hers.

He hummed in agreement, moving to slant his lips over hers before casually muttering, “I know. That’s why I’ve requested a leave of absence from Mungo’s.”

“What?” She sputtered, jolting away from him feeling utterly gobsmacked.

“I’m taking some time off. You’re more important to me,” he shrugged, pulling her back to him.

“Scorpius, this is crazy,” she exclaimed loudly, eyes wide in disbelief. “You can’t just quit your job for me.”

“I’m not quitting my job for you. I would in a heartbeat, but I’m not. I’m simply taking some time off. I can’t go through this again, Rose. You claim that we were both at fault and maybe to some extent that’s true. But it started with me. I put my job before you and I’m more sorry than you could ever begin to fathom,” he said calmly.

She didn’t understand how he could be so okay with all of this. He was putting his career, which he had worked so very hard to achieve, on pause because of her. But then she remembered that his job was the cause of all this. She remembered the feeling of emptiness, of hurt, that had overcome her each time he’d come home later and later in the night. She wanted him to be successful. She wanted that for herself. But there needed to be a balance.

“I was really mad at you,” she admitted quietly. Her words seemed to pain him physically, but he nodded nonetheless.

“I was really mad at me too, and I’m going to be sorry about it for the rest of my life.”

“You don’t need to be sorry,” she said in a small, wobbly voice.

He pushed her hair from her face and took her face in his hands.

“Yes, I do, Rose. I am so painstakingly, hopelessly, and slightly pathetically in love with you and I am vowing to you now that I will _never_ let this happen again. I can’t promise that work won’t get hectic, but from now on, you will always take priority. I can’t go another 5 weeks without coming home to you,” he said, kissing her on the forehead.

“Without hearing your laugh” he muttered, kissing directly under her eyes where her tears had started to fall.

“Without cleaning up your dirty towels from the bathroom floor,” he grinned. She could feel his smirk against her neck as he peppered her with hot, open-mouthed kisses

“Without telling you that I love you.” He was now sucking just under her jaw causing her eyes to pleasantly roll into the back of her head, a soft moan escaping her as he slid a cool hand up shirt, his fingers tantalizingly close to the underside of her breast.

“Without being married to you,” he finished, not giving her a chance to respond before capturing her lips with his in a searing kiss.

She relished in the feel of him, his lips moving fervently against her own, groaning loudly as he sucked lightly on her bottom lip. It was only when he pulled her on top of him, her legs wrapping instinctively around his waist, that she thought about the words he had just spoken, causing her to pull away from him abruptly.

“Say that again,” she whispered, voice so quiet that he had to strain to hear her.

“Say what?” he asked innocently, the stupid, calculated, but thoroughly irresistible Malfoy smirk plastered across his pretty face.

“This isn’t the time to be smart with me, Scorpius. Say it again,” she snapped, clenching his still damp robes in her fists ardently.

He laughed loudly at her insistence but nonetheless took her face in his hands, bringing his lips to hers once more.

“Marry me, Rosie,” he whispered, pulling away just enough that he could gaze into her shimmering blue eyes.

The words had hardly left his mouth before she roughly grasped his face in her hands, messily pressing her lips against his. Greedily, she fought her way into his mouth, her tongue brushing against his languidly. It was like she couldn’t get enough of him fast enough. His hands were like fire, running up and down her sides like he couldn’t help but touch her.. As he made to pull his jumper off of her, she looked at him dazedly, fully appreciating the fact that he was finally with her. Lips bruised and pupils blown wide, he looked quite perfect. So perfect in fact that she couldn’t wait for him to finish messing with the stupid sweater.

Roughly pulling him towards her, she sighed contentedly as he began kissing his way down her neck, stubble rough against the pale skin of her chest as he sucked lightly at her collar bone.

As if it had a mind of its own, his hand was inching further and further towards her inner thigh and she gasped loudly as he teased her through the cotton of her underwear.

“We have to promise to never leave each other again,” she managed to choke out as his fingers slid inside of her slowly.

“Forever. I’ll stay with you forever,” he vowed, groaning as she arched into his hand.

Rose couldn’t remember saying much else that night. She didn’t even remember if she properly said yes, for they were much too busy getting reacquainted with one another to care. As the sun rose the next morning, when they had stopped long enough for him to slide the stunning ring on her finger, she knew that they would never be apart again.

**Author's Note:**

> I know breakups of our favorite fictional characters are never what we want to read, but I've always struggled with the idea that people get together in Hogwarts and are just happy forever. It's the same thing as a high school relationship which are notorious for not working out. I think that as people mature, it's healthy to take some time away from their partner, especially if they get together at a young age because the real world tends to get in the way of a lot of things. And with Rose and Scorpius being a Granger-Weasley & Malfoy respectively, I can only see them being extremely ambitious, particularly in their careers.


End file.
